The U.S. Department of State Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), USAID, and Chemonics are hosting a dialogue today to address energy consumption in the Lower Mekong River region.

This week, the U.S. Department of State Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), USAID, and Chemonics are joining together to host a Clean Energy Dialogue during the Asian Clean Energy Forum in Manila, Philippines.

Aiming to address the growing energy consumption in the region, the dialogue includes five deep-dive sessions on topics such as the role of clean energy and renewables in the region, scaling up solar power and wind energy, biomass, power grids, and financing for renewable energy. The dialogue combines elements of a technical workshop and networking event by including panels or presentations by U.S. government officials and private sector experts, company representatives and an opportunity to foster peer-to-peer technical and business networks.

Participants include: regional and global businesses and actors such as Black & Veatch, GE Renewable Energy, AES Corporation, Asia Green Capital Partners, SunEdison, Caterpillar, HCMC Energy Conservation Center; regional senior energy experts; government officials from the five LMI countries (Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam); and representatives from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and USAID.

Chemonics’ USAID-funded Asia and Middle East Growth Best Practices (AMEG) project is coordinating the dialogue in close collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Nexant. To learn more about the Lower Mekong Initiative and environmental goals in the region, please click here, and follow @Chemonics on twitter for updates from the event.

Blerta Picari is a program specialist on the Asia and Middle East Growth Best Practices (AMEG) project in Chemonics’ Middle East region.

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